Great Glen Challenge Alan Brooks with the Gaudie family near Inverness 27-05-2014
Alan was joined by Rob, Treen, Magnus and Dougal Gaudie on the final day of his Challenge, which raised £198.50 for RSPB Phoenix at Saltholme and £273.50 for St Leonard’s. They are all members of the Hambleton Paddlers. Photo from Joanne Hughes.
Coming up…
More details in church gazette and separate wel-e-bulletins
Thu 17 Jul WI 7.30 pm Village Hall
Sun 20 Jul Rountons BBQ postponed (see below) – from the Gazette
Sun 3 Aug Vigil Service 6 pm at St Leonard’s for WWI anniversary
Sat 9 Aug Welbury Show, Village Hall
Sun 10 Aug Rountons BBQ 12.30 pm Rountons Village Hall
Wed 13 Aug Cactus Society, 7.15 pm Village Hall
Sat/Sun 16/17 Aug Third Annual Beer Festival, Duke of Wellington
Thu 21 Aug WI 7.30 pm Village Hall
Sat 13 Sep Welly Wanging (v. Wellington, Somerset) from 3.00 pm at the pub
Sun 14 Sep late summer lunch (details TBA
Congratulations …
Another grand-daughter for Les & Tina Race of Lyndale and daughter for Adam and Lauren Race of Mayvern, baby Annabelle Tilly May was born on May 29th weighing 7 lb 12 oz. Annabelle now becomes Welbury’s youngest resident, taking over so soon from Chloe Moore.
Quiz of the month …
Where in Welbury is the photo of meadow cranesbill below right? Where else can you find it in the parish? What genus (type) of
flower is it? Why do we only see it in road verges and will it soon disappear altogether?
Answers from last month (as far as we know; tell us if you know better).
How many rivers? Whichever way rainfall flows from Welbury, it must run along five rivers before reaching the sea: Wiske, Swale, Ure, Ouse & Humber, a total of about 140 miles or 224 km. There seem to be only three strings of more than five rivers in England, all to the Humber, the highest being seven from just south of Holmfirth in West Yorkshire.
Snippets …
See bulletins and church gazette for more
Visitors Penny & Luisa Marrone 25-06-2014
Penny was in Welbury pursuing family history. Her great grandparents Hannah and Fred Robinson lived at Glebe Farm 1921 to 1937. Her father had kept in touch with George Gaines. Penny has discovered a great dramatic story which we hope to bring to next month’s issue.
Tennis: Appleton Wiske Tennis Club is open to people from Welbury and other villages. For details see
http://www.appletonwiske.com/sports.htm#tennis
Midsummer: A reader reports Midsummer’s Day is traditionally 24th June, not 21st as in the last issue. Fair enough! The 21st is the summer solstice (the longest day) while Midsummer Day may be variously between 21st and 25th and is 24th in UK (Wikipedia).
Superfast: The NY superfast broadband team notes “a lot of interest from Welbury” in phase 2 of the rollout. We shall have to keep pressing as nothing is promised yet.
Weather from Rod:
Overall, June was warmer than in 2013 with a maximum of 26 °C, a minimum of 6.6 °C and a monthly average of 15.3 °C. Corresponding temperatures for June 2013 were 28.9 °C, 3.8 °C and 14.6 °C. It was also appreciably wetter, with 48 mm of rain compared with 36 mm in June 2013. June 7/8th was the wettest with nearly 14 mm of rain, our wettest day since 9th January (15 mm of rain). Rainfall for the first 6 months of the year was over 60% higher than in 2013 (312 mm cp. 191 mm).
So far in July, we’ve had the wettest day of the year (~17 mm rain) on the 5th, but at noon today (12th) it’s already around 27 °C so it’s not all bad news!
Verge flowers: Nice displays of meadow cranesbill can be seen around the lanes but hardly any in Welbury parish this year. Is it down to verge cutting at wrong times?
Book of the month …
Roger Federer – The Greatest
by
Chris Bowers
A little light relief from the stresses of the football pitch, this month’s book choice features the consummate tennis player, Roger Federer whose on-court manners and exemplary behaviour would put most footballers to shame.
This book charts his career and provides fascinating insights into what makes Federer ‘tick’. He has won seventeen Grand Slam titles to date and, although currently ranked
at number four in the world, has been continually inside the Top Ten players since October 2002.
Federer started playing tennis at a very early age in his native Switzerland and, ironically, was excused from the mandatory National Service in that country because of a back problem. This clearly has not held him back since!
The author, Chris Bowers, shows his admiration for Federer and for his iron will and determination, particularly when clawing his way back from injury and lack of form, but he is never fawning or sycophantic in his praise of the sportsman. He reveals something of Federer’s private life which is, to say the least, busy as he and his wife have two sets of twins girls aged five and boys who were born in May of this year.
An interesting read about a sportsman who can truly be said to be an excellent role model
Sarah Hoiles
WI Monthly Report (June)
from Dervor Hanson
The Yorkshire Film Archive was the title of Peter McNamara’s talk, how he helped to create it, how it has come to be one of the best in the country, and how they welcome donations of old film made by amateurs over the last Century which show any aspects of life in Yorkshire.
The competition for a cute farm animal made a display with the “ahh” factor and was won by a plasticine pig. Next month’s Jacinta Semain will lead an interactive Glasscraft night. The competition will be for the most unusual button.
Le Tour
Welbury was there, thanks to Phyll
Wade formerly of Red House who
sends this picture of the cyclists
‘swooshing’ down Moor Road
towards Leyburn Market Square.
Phyll caught this shot on 5th July
while sitting on hay bales at the end
of her access drive. The wall
opposite is of Thornborough Hall. A
unique experience for Leyburn, it
was ‘altogether very jolly’.
05-07-2014
People … Joan Barker
It emerged from one of our quizzes a couple of years ago that Willey was by far the most populous surname in Welbury parish, with some 12 residents of that name at the time. That was without our Joan, who became a Barker when she married Mick in 1964 and moved to Welbury Grange. Before that she was Joan Willey at High Ingram Grange, the farmhouse on the hillside that looks down to Appleton Wiske bridge. So Joan is a native Welburian who has lived here all her life, one of the few.
In those childhood days Joan was the youngest in the family, with three older brothers: Doug, Geoff and George. They all went to Appleton junior school, long before it was rebuilt in its modern form. There were two classes, a junior class on its own and a class for ages 7 or 8 and upwards in the big room. Joan also went to Yarm School for a year, by taxi from Appleton. Childhood memories include collecting wheat (for sowing) from Welbury station by horse and cart, and picking wild flowers for mam – honeysuckle from the hedgerows and meadow flowers like milkmaids, which you don’t see nowadays. Joan would also lead the horse from stook to stook at harvest time when she was 8 or 9. A big treat of the year was the Sunday School outing, from Appleton Wiske church. It was always to Whitby by motor coach.
Mick Barker had known Joan’s brothers well. It was a match made in Welbury when Mick asked Joan to the “grass dance” (under canvas) at Osmotherley Show. Mick only got one dance with her the whole night! Joan was in great demand for other dance partners.
But they hit it off and got married one Saturday 8th August, coincidentally the Osmotherley Show day that year. That was fifty years ago this year, and the Show had invited Joan and Mick to be joint Presidents for 2014. Sadly, Mick died in 2011 and so their son Colin will take his place at this year’s show on Saturday 2nd August.
When Colin was born in 1966, Joan was just getting over a black eye, caused when she was dismantling a tractor. Then she got tendinitis after wringing out wet nappies and spreading tiling glue on the floor. She had to manage the baby and farm work with an arm in plaster. Her other son Les was born in 1968 and lives in Cockermouth. The lads were never any bother.
They would play with Rob at Welbury Grange and entertain themselves. One Christmas the family bought a Sinclair computer which fully engaged the lads the whole time.
Dairy farming had been a way of life at Welbury Grange for years, and not without its traumas. One cow had winded Joan in the parlour, and then had a go at Mick. “We soon got rid, that one went down the road!” Foot and mouth had a severe effect on farming life, although the farm wasn’t itself contaminated. It was almost like being in prison, having to stay on the farm except for really essential journeys. Eventually all the milk cows were sold about five years ago, a very sad day. Joan still shivers at the sight of a double-decker cattle truck.
Just a few years ago you may have seen Joan in her electric wheelchair. She had broken an ankle and had two hip replacements, and is happily over those problems now. Last year she developed COPD, a lung condition which means she cannot breathe properly without her oxygen lifeline. Last autumn it was compounded by pneumonia and she was in a very serious condition. The pneumonia has gone now but the oxygen lifeline is still needed, though she can take it off for a few minutes for a photo! Undaunted, yes remarkably undaunted, Joan still gets around to village events such as the coffee morning last month, and still with her usual cheerful way of getting on with it. What a wonderful example for all of us!
Mend of the month …
It’s only a pound-shop brush and pan! The long handle is handy when your mobility isn’t great. It’s a nuisance when they snap. Here a join was made using only scrap pipe, glue and insulating tape.
This trivial mend raises a fundamental question: why bother? Why not buy another?
The white stem sheared off at the base. The end was hard to remove without more damage, so the remaining stem couldn’t be inserted. The scrap metal pipe just fits inside the stem.
The satisfaction is in avoiding waste and restoring function. And spending time and effortcan be a good thing itself!
Mallards …
Rod Bennington writes: We have two families of mallards nesting on our pond for the first time this year. There are now two adult females looking after 12 ducklings – I guess the males have left home because they couldn’t cope! We also have the usual pair of moorhens nesting, now with their second brood of 3 chicks, so the pond is getting fairly crowded. They’re presently costing me a fortune in bird food, so I hope they all don’t decide to stay in
residence.
Welbury footpaths …
Photos 11-07-2014
It seems now like something of a luxury when Michael Dewhirst had the public paths mown regularly along the edges of the fields behind Spring Hill. Now Michael has passed away and the field sold, the paths are left overgrown and in some places very lumpy underfoot.
The kissing gate at the far corner of “Dewhirst’s Field” behind Spring Hill, looking back (north) along the top
edge where the footpath is indistinct and lumpy.
Mankin (“Green”) Lane heading east. The stile and turn off to Summerfield are to the left of this picture. It is all passable but in many places you have to hack down some growth and stinging nettles.
Near the Deighton end fallen trees and branches block the bridleway though a person can get round the side.
This lane is not functioning as a bridleway at present.
The lane was well cleared a couple of years ago when drains were renewed, but now there are several muddy stretches despite the generally dry weather lately.
The “Strip” between the large fields half way to Deighton, looking back (east) towards Welbury. There is an ample width for the path but the growth and lumpy ground mean that walkers go along the field edges.
Hello girls! A nice welcome back from the cows in Trewhitt’s field beside the village street.
The Parish Council is to get in touch with the County Council about the footpaths and bridleways.